Former attorney who used fake IDs to get jobs pleads guilty to federal fraud charges
(Image from Shutterstock.)
A disbarred attorney who practiced law in the Cincinnati area has pleaded guilty to fraud as part of a long-running scheme to obtain jobs at numerous law firms.
Richard Louis Crosby III, 37, of Mason, Ohio, pleaded guilty to three counts of Social Security number fraud, according to a July 9 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. At various times, Crosby used Social Security numbers belonging to his girlfriend, a deceased man and others to mislead at least seven law firms.
Fox19 Now and Law.com have coverage.
As early as June 2021, Crosby told employers his name was Richard Williams, and he was licensed in New York and Washington, D.C. But in reality, the Cincinnati Bar Association filed a complaint against Crosby in November 2020 and accepted his resignation from the practice of law in April 2021, federal prosecutors say.
That same year, Crosby was indicted in Hamilton County in Ohio in connection with the alleged theft of client funds. According to Fox, he was employed at Strauss Troy in Cincinnati during his dealing with those clients.
In June 2022—after Crosby had been disbarred in Ohio and arrested on the Hamilton County charges—he used his alias to apply for a job at a California law firm, according to federal prosecutors. The firm offered Crosby an associate position with a $150,000 salary. He was employed for about three months.
Then, in September 2022, Crosby used his alias to apply for a job at a firm in Miami. He was offered an attorney position with a starting salary of $185,000 and a $5,000 signing bonus. According to prosecutors, he used his girlfriend’s Social Security number and other identifying information to complete his employment paperwork.
Crosby was fired in April 2023, after the law firm received an inquiry from a child support investigator who made the firm aware of his real identity.
However, in July 2023, Crosby interviewed with two other firms in California and Florida. The Florida firm offered him a starting salary of $195,000 and a $10,000 signing bonus but did not hire him after determining he was using a false identity, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors also say in August and September 2023, Crosby applied for additional jobs in Michigan and California. He was hired as an attorney at the California firm and offered a salary of $250,000. He used the Social Security number of a deceased North Carolina man in his tax paperwork.
Crosby was arrested by federal agents in October 2023. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to pay nearly $171,000 in restitution to the law firms targeted in his scheme. The agreement also includes a sentence recommendation of 37 months in prison.
In May 2023, Crosby pleaded guilty in the local theft cases in Ohio and was sentenced to probation.
Hat tip to Above the Law.
